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October 30, 2007

A Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

I wasn't looking forward to our planned trip to the pumpkin patch this year. The weather had been particularly cold and drizzly the day of our scheduled outing, but our group of homeschooling friends heads out there together every year and we certainly didn't want to miss out. Besides, what would we do without pumpkins for Halloween? (Our pumpkins from the garden were gobbled up as pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving). Thankfully, the rain stopped just before we left, and by the time we got to the farm, the sun was shining brilliantly!

I tend to go a little camera crazy when I get to this place. They just display everything so nicely, and there's nothing so appealing as endless piles of squash, in my opinion (I think it appeals to my strong hoarding instincts).

The pumpkin patch itself was a bit of a challenge, though. We've had a substantial amount of rain this summer and fall, and the poor pumpkin farmers suffered serious losses (as much as 50% apparently). So not only was the field a mass of rotting pumpkins (probably 95% of them were mushy - making it difficult to even find a pumpkin let alone the perfect jack-o-lantern), but our boots got sucked off our feet with every step.

The sunshine made up for it though, as did the massive flocks of snow geese that were gathering and vocalizing in the area (enlarge the above photo to see them flying in the background).

Huge flocks of these geese pass through the Fraser River delta on their annual migration, and tens of thousands of them spend the winter here before returning to the Soviet arctic to mate.

It ended up being a lovely day, and I was really happy that we forced ourselves to get out of the house in the end. I'll have to file this memory away for those days when I don't want to get out of my pj's.

5 comments:

I have a strong hoarding sense as well. I have quite a few pumpkins left to work with. Did you see the Praline Pumpkin Torte recipe on Tuesday? I am making pumpkin meatloaf tomorrow, I look forward to that every year. It is great you had a nice time despite not wanting to go out. I find that is the same with me sometimes. Great photos.

That's one thing I missed this year was a trip to a pumpkin patch. Actually though, I didn't notice any in our area. The ones back in the Midwest were wonderful. I have some great childhood memories of visiting pumpkin farms.

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About Me

I'm an avid gardener, food lover, cookbook hoarder, and environmentalist. After years of biding our time in the city, waiting for the chance to move to the country and live out our rural dream, we're finally in the process of building a "not so big house" on a gorgeous acre and a half just outside the city. We're planning to do much of the work ourselves, and are using as many "green" and or recycled materials as possible.
Living on one income in order to homeschool our two children has given us a keen interest in what it takes to live frugally, and has led us to growing as much of our own food as possible, as well as making most of what we eat from scratch. We're discovering that, more often than not, living frugally and living sustainably go hand in hand.